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Garry trounces Richardson in nasty state rep. race

By John Collins, jcollins@lowellsun.com

Updated:
11/07/2012 12:51:13 AM EST

DRACUT -- In what was often a bitter battle between two former Dracut High School band mates vying for the 36th Middlesex District seat representing Tyngsboro and Dracut, 18-year incumbent Democratic state Rep. Colleen Garry emerged as the hard-fought winner Tuesday night.

Garry, 50, won re-election for her 10th consecutive term by receiving 12,099 votes, with her Republican challenger, and Dracut's Board of Selectmen Chairman Cathy Richardson, 52, receiving 8,523 votes, or 59 percent to 41 percent.

Garry's victory followed a contentious general-election campaign in which the both candidates' personal finances drew intense public scrutiny from state Democratic and Republican Party officials. In October, Garry was accused by the Massachusetts Republican Party of deliberately failing to itemize campaign contributions of more than $50, as required by law, in order to mask the names of some controversial donors.

In turn, Garry and state Democratic Party leaders countered the Republican probe into Garry's campaign filings by pointing out that Richardson faced an active warrant from Lowell District Small Claims Court for failure to pay a home heating oil bill owed to Haffner's Service Stations, and for skipping three court dates to discuss a settlement amount.

In victory, Garry, an attorney with a law office in Lowell, also successfully fended off Richardson's repeated attempts to portray her in campaign literature and three debates as a "part-time" state representative who cared more about operating her law practice.

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Richardson, a first-time candidate for state representative, defeated George Boag in the Republican primary in September. Garry was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Garry first took office by defeating Richardson 's mother, Sheila, in 1994.

Through the previous 18 years of representing Dracut and Tyngsboro, both traditionally Republican-leaning towns, Garry's winning campaign mantra in nine straight elections has been "take no one's vote for granted," she said.

In 2012, in going up against her highest-profile Republican opponent yet, that slogan especially held true, said Garry.

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